As I’ve given presentations to new IST students at Weber State University or bumped into entry-level or aspiring programmers, they’ll often ask, “What programming language should you learn first?”

It’s a question that’s been answered innumerable times by people far more experienced and knowledgeable than I, but I’ll chip in one thing to consider: pick a language in a domain that interests you. For instance, I have always love working with web pages for many reasons:

they’re globally accessible

they allow me to easily tap into APIs from social networks and other sources, mixing up lots of cool data in creative ways

the breakneck speed at which web development technologies change ensures things don’t get boring

web development has a massive amount of industry momentum, and it’s fun to be inside such a crazy storm

For those reasons, I’ve spent more time learning HTML, CSS and Javascript than any other languages or technologies. Secondarily, I’ve focused on server-side languages that support web pages, e.g. C# and Java. So my interest in that domain propelled my learning of its languages.

Maybe security is the domain that interests you most. Or maybe video games is your favorite domain. Or mobile apps. What do you wish you could build? What kinds of apps or projects would you design and write? Each domain has a selection of languages that are particularly suitable.

By picking a domain that interests you deeply, you’ll find that that inherent appeal fuels you past that sometimes challenging learning curve that you’ll hit at first.